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  • Ron DeSantis joins White House race, tripped up by chaotic Twitter launch

    Ron DeSantis joins White House race, tripped up by chaotic Twitter launch

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    WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suffered a chaotic start to his 2024 presidential election race on Wednesday when glitches marred an online forum hosted by Twitter owner Elon Musk that was meant to showcase DeSantis’ fitness for the job.

    The Twitter broadcast of the hour-long interview , which had been intended as the formal launch for the DeSantis campaign, lost sound for extended stretches and thousands of users were either unable to join or were dropped.

    It was an inauspicious start for a campaign predicated on the governor’s executive competence.

    “We must end the culture of losing that has infected the Republican Party in recent years,” DeSantis said in the event with Musk once the problems were largely resolved. The hashtag #DeSaster was trending on Twitter.

    DeSantis’ entrance in the Republican contest sets up a showdown with his one-time ally, former President Donald Trump, who lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.

    The Florida governor framed himself as a get-it-done executive who stood up to the federal government over COVID policies and who has put an indelibly conservative stamp on his home state.

    He defended his efforts in Florida to prohibit the teaching of concepts such as gender identity and systemic racism as protecting young children and pushing back against progressive ideology.

    With a rising national profile and what are expected to be deep financial resources, DeSantis, 44, immediately became Trump’s biggest rival for the Republican nomination.

    “Government is not about entertainment, not about building a brand,” DeSantis said, taking a veiled swipe at Trump. Notably he never mentioned Trump by name during the event.

    Trump, 76, didn’t hesitate to mock DeSantis on his social media platform, Truth Social, over the stumbling start to his campaign.

    “My Red Button is bigger, better, stronger, and is working (TRUTH!)” Trump posted, “Yours does not.”

    Musk conceded there had been “technical issues because of the sheer scale” of the event, but added that “it’s just really great for the people to hear directly from presidential candidates.”

    [1/6] Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks as he announces he is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in this screen grab from a social media video posted May 24, 2023. Twitter @RonDeSantis/Handout via REUTERS

    At one point, the Twitter event drew more than 600,000 listeners. By its conclusion, there were fewer than 300,000.

    DeSantis’ campaign spokesman Bryan Griffin said on Twitter that enthusiasm for DeSantis had “literally busted up the internet.”

    The campaign raised $1 million in an hour, Griffin said.

    TRUMP AHEAD IN POLLS

    Polls show Trump with more than a 2-to-1 edge over the Florida governor, who has long been considered a Republican rising star and the herald of a new generation of leaders in the party. Trump, who announced in November, also has a head start in organizing his campaign in key early voting states.

    DeSantis’ central argument for his candidacy likely will be that he is the only Republican who can defeat Biden.

    “Our president, while he lacks vigor, flounders in the face of our nation’s challenges and he takes cues from the woke mob,” DeSantis said.

    Mainstream Republicans will be watching DeSantis carefully to see if he can recover from his missteps on foreign policy, such as his initial reluctance to express support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

    In the weeks leading up to his presidential bid, DeSantis toured the country, visiting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire that will hold early nominating contests. He has boasted of his record as Florida’s governor, including his battles with the federal government over pandemic policies.

    DeSantis and his advisers were determined to wait to enter the race until the Florida Legislature could hand him a series of policy victories – and lawmakers have done just that.

    He signed measures that severely restricted abortions in the state, made it easier for residents to carry concealed weapons, expanded a voucher program to allow students to attend private schools and eliminated funding for diversity programs at public universities, among other things.

    DeSantis remains in a pitched battle with Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) over the company’s criticism of laws prohibiting the teaching of gender identity concepts in public schools. The company has filed a federal lawsuit accusing DeSantis of weaponizing state government to punish its operations.

    Other declared Republican candidates include Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Tim Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina.

    Reporting by Jasper Ward; Editing by Doina Chiacu

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Italy’s right wing, led by Meloni, wins election, exit polls say

    Italy’s right wing, led by Meloni, wins election, exit polls say

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    • Rightist bloc set for majority in both houses-exit polls
    • Meloni would be country’s first woman prime minister
    • Early vote follows collapse of Draghi government
    • Record low turnout casts shadow over result

    ROME, Sept 25 (Reuters) – A right-wing alliance led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party was on course for a clear majority in the next parliament, giving the country its most right-wing government since World War Two.

    Meloni, as leader of the largest coalition party, was also likely to become Italy’s first woman prime minister.

    Meloni, 45, plays down her party’s post-fascist roots and portrays it as a mainstream conservative group. She has pledged to support Western policy on Ukraine and not take undue risks with the third largest economy in the euro zone.

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    However, the outcome is likely to ring alarm bells in European capitals and on financial markets, given the desire to preserve unity in confronting Russia and concerns over Italy’s daunting debt mountain.

    An exit poll for state broadcaster RAI said the bloc of conservative parties, that also includes Matteo Salvini’s League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, won between 41% and 45%, enough to guarantee control of both houses of parliament.

    “Centre-right clearly ahead both in the lower house and the Senate! It’ll be a long night but even now I want to say thanks,” Salvini said on Twitter.

    Italy’s electoral law favours groups that manage to create pre-ballot pacts, giving them an outsized number of seats by comparison with their vote tally.

    RAI said the right-wing alliance would win between 227 and 257 of the 400 seats in the lower house of parliament, and 111-131 of the 200 Senate seats.

    Full results are expected by early Monday.

    Leader of Brothers of Italy Giorgia Meloni poses with her ballot at a polling station during the snap election in Rome, Italy September 25, 2022. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

    RECORD LOW TURNOUT

    The result caps a remarkable rise for Meloni, whose party won only 4% of the vote in the last national election in 2018, but this time around was forecast to emerge as Italy’s largest group on around 22-26%.

    But it was not a ringing endorsement, with provisional data pointing to turnout of just 64.1% against 74% four years ago — a record low number in a country that has historically enjoyed a high level of voter participation.

    Although heavy storms in the south appeared to have deterred many from voting there, participation fell across a swathe of northern and central cities, where the weather was calmer.

    Italy has a history of political instability and the next prime minister will lead the country’s 68th government since 1946 and face a host of problems, notably soaring energy costs and growing economic headwinds.

    Initial market reaction is likely to be muted given that opinion polls had forecast the result accurately.

    “I don’t expect a big impact although it’s not necessarily the case that Italian assets will do particularly well tomorrow (Monday) given how the market is starting to treat Europe and countries with worrisome public finances and exposure to the crisis and Ukraine,” said Giuseppe Sersale, fund manager and strategist at Anthilia in Milan.

    Italy’s first autumn national election in over a century was triggered by party infighting that brought down Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s broad national unity government in July.

    The new, slimmed-down parliament will not meet until Oct. 13, at which point the head of state will summon party leaders and decide on the shape of the new government.

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    Additional reporting by Gavin Jones, Rodolfo Fabbri and Giselda Vagnoni in Rome, and Danilo Masoni in Milan
    Editing by Keith Weir

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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